Greek campaign The New Zealand authorities deployed the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force for combat in three echelons – all originally destined for
Egypt, but one diverted to Scotland (it would arrive there in June 1940) following the
German invasion of France. In April 1941, after a period training in
Egypt, 2NZEF's New Zealand 2nd Division, stationed in Egypt, deployed to take part in the
defence of Greece against invasion by Italian troops, and soon German forces too when they
joined the invasion. This defence was mounted alongside British and Australian units – the corps-size
Commonwealth contingent under the command of British General
Henry Maitland Wilson known together as W Force, supported a weakened Greek Army. As German panzers began a swift advance into Greece on 6 April, the British and Commonwealth troops found themselves being outflanked and were forced into retreat. By 9 April, Greece had been forced to surrender and the 40,000 W Force troops began a withdrawal from the country to
Crete and Egypt, the last New Zealand troops leaving by 29 April. During this brief campaign, the New Zealanders lost 261 men killed, 1,856 captured and 387 wounded.
Crete Two of the three brigades of the New Zealand 2nd Division had evacuated to Crete from Greece (the third and division headquarters went to
Alexandria). New Zealanders bolstered the Crete garrison to a total of 34,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers (25,000 evacuated from Greece) alongside 9,000 Greek troops (see
Crete order of battle for more detail). Evacuated to Crete on 28 April (having disregarded an order to leave on 23 April), the New Zealand General Freyberg became commander of the Allied forces on Crete on the 30th.
Ultra intercepts of German signals had already alerted Allied commanders to the German plans to invade Crete with
Fallschirmjäger (
Luftwaffe paratroopers). With this knowledge, General Freyberg began to prepare the island's defences, hampered by a lack of modern and heavy equipment, as the troops from Greece had in most cases had to leave only with their personal weapons. Although German plans had underestimated Greek, British and Commonwealth numbers, and incorrectly presumed that the Cretan population would welcome the invasion, Freyberg was still faced with the harsh prospect that even lightly equipped paratroopers could overwhelm the island's defences. Operation Mercury opened on 20 May when the German Luftwaffe delivered
Fallschirmjäger around the airfield at
Maleme and the
Chania area, at around 8:15 pm, by paradrop and
gliders. Most of the New Zealand forces were deployed around this north-western part of the island and with British and Greek troops they inflicted heavy casualties upon the initial German attacks. Despite near complete defeat for their landing troops east of the airfield and in the
Galatas region, the Germans were able to gain a foothold by mid-morning west of Maleme Airfield (5 Brigade's area) – along the
Tavronitis riverbed and in the
Ayia Valley to the east (10 Brigade's area – dubbed 'Prison Valley').
Maleme in the
Battle of Crete, 20 May 1941 Over the course of the morning, the 600-strong New Zealand
22 Battalion defending Maleme Airfield found its situation rapidly worsening. The battalion had lost telephone contact with the brigade headquarters; the battalion headquarters (in
Pirgos) had lost contact with C and D Companies, stationed on the airstrip and along the Tavronitis-side of Hill 107 (see map) respectively and the battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel
Leslie Andrew (
VC) had no idea of the enemy paratrooper strength to his west, as his
observation posts lacked wireless sets. While a platoon of C Company situated northwest of the airfield, nearest the sea, was able to repel German attacks along the beach, attacks across the Tavronitis bridge by
Fallschirmjäger were able to overwhelm weaker positions and take the Royal Air Force camp. Not knowing whether C and D Companies had been overrun, and with German mortars firing from the riverbed, Colonel Andrew (with unreliable wireless contact) ordered the firing of white and green signals – the designated emergency signal for
23 Battalion (to the south-east of Pirgos), under the command of Colonel Leckie, to counterattack. The signal was not spotted, and further attempts were made to get the message through to no avail. At 5:00 pm, contact was made with Brigadier
James Hargest at the New Zealand 2nd Division headquarters, but Hargest responded that 23 Battalion was fighting paratroopers in its own area, an untrue and unverified assertion. Faced with a seemingly desperate situation, Colonel Andrew played his trump card – two
Matilda tanks, which he ordered to counterattack with the reserve infantry platoon and some additional
gunners turned infantrymen. The counterattack failed – one tank had to turn back after suffering technical problems (the turret would not traverse properly) and the second ignored the German positions in the RAF camp and the edge of the airfield, heading straight for the riverbed. This lone tank stranded itself quickly on a boulder and faced with the same technical difficulties as the first Matilda, the crew abandoned the vehicle. The exposed infantry were repelled by the
Fallschirmjäger. At around 6:00 pm, the failure was reported to Brigadier Hargest and the prospect of a withdrawal was raised. Colonel Andrew was informed that he could withdraw if he wished, with the famous reply "Well, if you must, you must," but that two companies (A Company, 23 Battalion and B Company,
28 (Māori) Battalion) were being sent to reinforce 22 Battalion. To Colonel Andrew, the situation seemed bleak; ammunition was running low, the promised reinforcements seemed not to be forthcoming (one got lost, the other simply did not arrive as quickly as expected) and he still had no idea how C and D companies were. The two companies in question were in fact resisting strongly on the airfield and above the Tavronitis riverbed and had inflicted far greater losses on the Germans than they had suffered. At 9:00 pm, Andrew made the decision to make a limited withdrawal, and once that had been carried out, a full one to the 21 and 23 Battalion positions to the east. By midnight, all of 22 Battalion had left the Maleme area, with the exception of C and D Companies which withdrew in the early morning of the 21st upon discovering that the rest of the battalion had gone. This allowed German troops to seize the airfield proper without opposition and take nearby positions to reinforce their hold on it.
Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft flew in ammunition and supplies, as well as the rest of the
Fallschirmjäger and troops of the
5th Mountain Division. Although the landings were extremely hazardous, with the airstrip under direct British artillery fire, substantial reinforcement was made. On 21 May, the village of Maleme was attacked and captured by the Germans, and a counterattack was made by the 20 Battalion (with reinforcements from the
Australian 2/7 Battalion), 28 (Māori) Battalion and later 21 Battalion. The attack was hampered by communications problems and although the New Zealanders made significant advances in some areas, the overall picture was one of stiff German resistance. 5 Brigade fell back to a new line at
Platanias, leaving Maleme securely in German hands, allowing them to freely build up their force in this region.
Galatas On the night of 23 May and the morning of 24 May, 5 Brigade withdrew again to the area near
Daratsos, forming a new front line running from
Galatas to the sea. The relatively fresh 18 Battalion replaced the worn troops from Maleme and Platanias, deploying 400 men on a two kilometre front. Galatas had come under attack on the first day of the battle —
Fallschirmjäger and gliders had landed around Chania and Galatas, to suffer extremely heavy casualties. They retreated to "Prison Valley," where they rallied around Ayia Prison and repulsed a confused counterattack by two companies of 19 Battalion and three light tanks. Pink Hill (so named for the colour of its soil), a crucial point on the Galatas heights, was attacked several times by the Germans that day and was remarkably held by the Division Petrol Company, with the aid of Greek soldiers, though at a heavy cost to both sides. The Petrol Company comprised poorly armed support troops, primarily drivers and technicians, and by the day's end, all their officers and most of their non-commissioned officers had been wounded. They withdrew around dusk. On the second day, the New Zealanders attacked nearby Cemetery Hill to take pressure off their line, and although they had to withdraw, for it was too exposed, the hill became a
no man's land as Pink Hill was, relieving the New Zealand front. Day three, 22 May, saw German soldiers take Pink Hill. The Petrol Company and some infantry reserve prepared a counterattack, but a notable incident pre-empted them – as told by Driver A. Pope: Out of the trees came [Captain] Forrester of the
Buffs, clad in shorts, a long yellow army jersey reaching down almost to the bottom of the shorts, brass polished and gleaming, web belt in place and waving his revolver in his right hand [...] It was a most inspiring sight. Forrester was at the head of a crowd of disorderly Greeks, including women; one Greek had a shotgun with a serrated-edge bread knife tied on like a bayonet, others had ancient weapons—all sorts. Without hesitation, this uncouth group, with Forrester right out in front, went over the top of a parapet and headlong at the crest of the hill. The [Germans] fled. Days four and five featured only skirmishes between the two forces. Luftwaffe air raids targeted Galatas on 25 May at 8:00 am, 12:45 pm and 1:15 pm, and the German ground attack came at around 2:00 pm. 100 Mountain and 3 Parachute Regiment attacked Galatas and the high ground around it, while two battalions of 85 Mountain Regiment attacked eastwards, with the aim of cutting Chania off. The New Zealand defenders, though prepared, suffered from a disadvantage: 18 Battalion, 400 men, was the only fresh infantry formation on the line – the rest were non-infantry groups like the Petrol Company and the Composite Battalion, consisting of mechanical, supply and artillery troops. The fighting was fierce, especially along the north of the line, and platoons and companies were forced to retreat. Brigadier
Lindsay Inglis called for reinforcement and received 23 Battalion, which, along with an improvised group of reinforcements scraped together at Brigade headquarters (including the brigade band and the
Kiwi Concert Party), stabilised the north of the line. South of Galatas, only 18 Battalion and the Petrol Company were defending – 18 Battalion was forced to withdraw, and the Petrol Company on Pink Hill followed suit after eventually becoming aware of this. 19 Battalion was the only formation still in combat on Pink Hill, and they too withdrew. These forces withdrew past Galatas, as no defenders were in the village to link up with. By nightfall, German troops had occupied Galatas, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Howard Kippenberger prepared a counterattack. Two tanks led two companies of 23 Battalion into Galatas at a running pace – heavy fire was encountered and as the tanks went ahead towards the town square, the infantry cleared each house of German soldiers as they worked inward. When the infantry caught up with the tanks, they found one out of action. With German fire coming primarily from one side of the square, a bayonet charge was mounted and the New Zealanders cleared the German opposition. Patrols quelled resistance elsewhere in Galatas – apart from one small strongpoint, Galatas was back in New Zealand hands. A conference between Brigadier Inglis and his commanders reached the consensus that Allied forces needed to make a further counterattack urgently – and that without a counterattack Crete would fall to the Germans. Despite hard fighting so far in the battle, the 28 (Māori) Battalion was considered to be the only "fresh" battalion available and the only one capable of carrying out such an attack. Their commander was willing to mount the attack despite the difficulty, but a representative sent from Brigadier
Edward Puttick at New Zealand 2nd Division headquarters recommended against such an attack for fear of being unable to hold the line subsequently. The counter-attack was scrapped, and so too was Galatas, its position being far too vulnerable to hold. Without Galatas the whole line was untenable and so the New Zealanders again retreated, forming a line from the coast to
Perivolia and
Mournies, near the Australian 19th Brigade.
North Africa and take prisoner its German crew during Operation Crusader, 3 December 1941. While New Zealand soldiers formed the majority of the personnel of the
Long Range Desert Group when it was formed in 1940, and a small number of New Zealand transport and signals units supported
Operation Compass in the Western Desert in December 1940, it was not until November 1941 that the
2nd New Zealand Division became fully involved in the
North African Campaign. Following its evacuation from Crete, the division regrouped at its camp near
Maadi, at the base of the desert slopes of Wadi Digla and Tel al-Maadi. Reinforcements arrived from New Zealand to bring the division back up to strength and the training, cut short by the deployment to Greece and Crete, was completed. On 18 November 1941,
Operation Crusader was launched to lift the
Siege of Tobruk (the third such attack), under the command of
Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham and the 2nd New Zealand Division (integrated into the
British Eighth Army) took part in the offensive, crossing the
Libyan frontier into
Cyrenaica. Operation Crusader was an overall success for the British, although
Erwin Rommel's
Afrika Korps inflicted heavy armour and infantry losses before its weakened and under-supplied units retreated to
El Agheila and halted the British advance. The New Zealand troops were the ones to relieve
Tobruk after fighting around
Sidi Rezegh, where Axis tanks had inflicted heavy casualties against the several New Zealand infantry battalions, protected by very little of their own armour. In February 1942, with Crusader completed, the
New Zealand government insisted that the division be withdrawn to
Syria to recover – 879 men were killed and 1,700 wounded during the operation, the most costly battle the 2nd New Zealand Division fought in the Second World War. On 14 June 1942, the generals recalled the New Zealanders from their occupation duties in Syria, as the Afrika Korps had
broken through Gazala and captured Tobruk. The New Zealanders, put on the defence, found themselves encircled at
Minqar Qa'im, but escaped thanks to brutally efficient hand-to-hand fighting by 4 Brigade. The British forces prevented Rommel's advance from reaching
Alexandria,
Cairo and the
Suez Canal in the
First Battle of El Alamein, where New Zealand troops captured
Ruweisat Ridge in a successful night attack. They were unable to bring their
anti-tank weapons forward, and more importantly, British armour did not move forward to support the soldiers. Heavy casualties were suffered by the two New Zealand brigades involved, as they were attacked by German tanks, and several thousand men were taken prisoner.
Charles Upham earned a bar for his Victoria Cross in this battle. pause for tea in the Western Desert, 27 March 1941 With the Eighth Army now under the new command of Lieutenant-General
Bernard Montgomery, the Army launched a new offensive on 23 October against the stalled
Axis forces in the
Second Battle of El Alamein. On the first night, as part of Operation Lightfoot, the New Zealand 2nd Division, with British divisions, moved through the deep Axis minefields while engineers cleared routes for British tanks to follow. The New Zealanders successfully captured their objectives on
Miteiriya Ridge. By 2 November, with the attack bogged down, Montgomery launched a new initiative to the south of the battle lines, Operation Supercharge, with the ultimate goal of destroying the Axis army. The experienced 2nd New Zealand Division was called on to carry out the initial thrust – the same sort of attack they had made in
Lightfoot. As the under-strength division could not achieve this mission alone, two British brigades were attached. The German line was breached by British armour and, on 4 November, the Afrika Korps, faced with the prospect of complete defeat, skillfully withdrew. The New Zealanders continued to advance with the Eighth Army through the
Tunisia Campaign, driving the Afrika Korps back into
Tunisia, and notably fought at
Medenine, the
Tebaga Gap and
Enfidaville. On 13 May 1943, the North African campaign ended with the surrender of the last 275,000 Axis troops in Tunisia. On 15 May, the division began a withdrawal back to Egypt and, by 1 June, the division had returned to Maadi and
Helwan, on standby for use in Europe. Total losses for the 2nd New Zealand Division since November 1941 stood at 2,989 killed, 7,000 wounded and 4,041 taken prisoner.
Italy , Italy, 8 April 1944. During October and November 1943, New Zealand troops from the 2nd New Zealand Division assembled in
Bari in
Apulia, weeks after the
Allied invasion of Italy. In November, the division crossed the
Sangro River with a view to breaching the German
Gustav Line and advancing to Rome, capturing the village of
Castelfrentano in the
Abruzzo (part of the Gustav Line) on 2 December. The division attacked Orsogna on the next day but was repulsed by the strong German defence. In January 1944, the 2nd New Zealand was withdrawn from the stalled front line and transferred to the
Cassino sector, where other Allied troops were bogged down in costly fighting for the position of
Monte Cassino. On 17 February, the division attacked
Cassino but it was strongly defended and they withdrew in early April. Cassino was eventually captured on 18 May by British and Polish troops, with the support of New Zealand artillery units. On 16 July, the division captured
Arezzo and reached
Florence on 4 August. By the end of October, they had reached the Savio River, and Faenza was captured on 14 December. In
Operation Grapeshot, the final Allied offensive in Italy, the division crossed the Senio River on 8 April 1945, then began their final push across the Santerno and Gaiana Rivers, finally crossing the
Po River on
Anzac Day 1945. The division captured
Padua on 28 April 1945, crossed the Isonzo River on 1 May, and reached
Trieste on 2 May, the day of the German unconditional surrender.
Campaigns in the Pacific When
Japan entered the war in December 1941, the New Zealand Government raised another expeditionary force, known as the 2nd N.Z.E.F. In the Pacific, or 2nd N.Z.E.F. (I.P.), for service with the Allied
Pacific Ocean Areas command. This force supplemented existing garrison troops in the South Pacific. The main fighting formation of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. (I.P.) comprised the
New Zealand 3rd Division. The 3rd Division never fought as a complete formation; its component brigades became involved in semi-independent actions as part of the Allied forces in the
Solomons at
Vella Lavella),
Treasury Islands and
Green Island. The War Cabinet had held the division at two rather than three brigades, and this limited its use, although MacArthur had a role for a full division; Halsey was "greatly disappointed that New Zealand could not furnish a division with three full brigades" but his deputy accepted that the division was last in New Zealand's Pacific priorities, after the air force, navy and food production. Preference was given to the Second Division, on the advice of Churchill and Roosevelt. New Zealand also had 19,000 troops in New Caledonia, Tonga, Norfolk Island and Fiji in 1943; and the 3,000 Air Force personnel would rise to 6,000 when more planes were available. In Australia the reaction of Curtin (but not Evatt) to the withdrawal of the Third Division was hostile. Eventually, American formations replaced the New Zealand army units in the Pacific, which released personnel for service with the 2nd Division in Italy, or to cover shortages in the civilian labour force. New Zealand Air Force squadrons and Navy units continued to contribute to the Allied island-hopping campaign, with several RNZAF squadrons supporting Australian ground troops on
Bougainville. in the Solomons. In 1945
Peter Fraser wanted to contribute to a Commonwealth force against Japan, including an army contribution of at least two brigade groups as "from previous experience small units are given the harder jobs or are not properly supported". But during the
Hamilton by-election, 1945, National had campaigned on withdrawing New Zealand troops from Italy and restricting New Zealand's role in the Pacific War to food supply, Labour wanted to keep New Zealand troops in the Pacific to "have a say" in the peace. So Fraser met the Opposition leaders
Sidney Holland and
Adam Hamilton before the
Dunedin North by-election, 1945, noting the divisions in his own caucus. Holland agreed with Fraser not to refer to the matter (which was agitating the whole country) during the by-election campaign, saying it would not be right to divide the House on this. In a (non-broadcast) semi-secret section on 2 August, the House agreed to participate in a force against Japan "within the capacity of our remaining resources of manpower". National's proposal to reduce the total armed forces to 55,000 was accepted. The
Commonwealth Corps, planned to participate in
Operation Downfall, the Allied invasion of Japan, would have included New Zealand Army and Air Force units, with Air Force units included in
Tiger Force to bomb Japan. In 1945, some troops who had recently returned from Europe with the 2nd Division were drafted to form a contribution (known as
J-Force) toward the
British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in southern Japan.
No. 14 Squadron RNZAF, equipped with
Corsair fighters, and RNZN ships also joined BCOF. == Naval actions ==